Hi everybody, I'm new to Oracle Spatial. In the last week I've been learning how to insert, query and process spatial data with Oracle, but there is another important thing I need and I don't know how to do it: I'm talking about loading into my Oracle DB the data contained in a shapefile (.shp). I'm used to work with PostGIS and if someone also did, I'm sure he knows the magnificient shapefile loader it has.

Is there something like that in Oracle Spatial? If not, what is/are the best options to do it? Thank you very much!

Personally, I use GeoRaptor to load shapefiles into Oracle Spatial. This is a SQLDeveloper plugin that any user of Oracle Spatial should not do without.
You can get GeoRaptor from here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/georaptor/

And here's some doco explaining how to use it to load Shapefiles:
http://freefr.dl.sourceforge.net/project/georaptor/GeoRapter%20Load%20Dataset.pdf

OK i like [MapBuilder |http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/mapviewer/downloads/index-100641.html] who can even honor [CPG file|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shapefile] of shape file while importing.

See this thread for more info. +(thanks for Joao and his team for doing this)+

-I didn't get GeoRaptor to work. I tried to install it following this guide: http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/georaptor/index.php?title=Installation but after I reload SQL Developer, GeoRaptor doesn't appear anywhere. It is supposed to be on the "View" submenu, but there is nothing there. I tried both the manual and the automatic update installation with no results (nor getting an error in the process).

-MapBuilder seems to work fine but after I load a shapefile and try to see the data on the resulting table with SQL Developer, it usually freezes. I think that it needs so much time to present the results of a query that the program breaks. What could be the reason of this?

I'm the main GeoRaptor developer and developed the shapefile importer.

Can you tell me:

1. What version of SQL Developer you are using?
2. What install method did you use? Did you use:
Enter the following values into the dialog:
Name: GeoRaptor
Location: http://georaptor.sourceforge.net/install.xml

That's it, I was using an older version of SQL Developer (though I installed Oracle just a week ago ¬¬). Now it does work. The only remaining problem is the issue with SQL Developer freezing when I access data of complex spatial tables.

But, understand that no testing has been done with SQL Developer 3.1 - the latest.

Some limited use of 3.1 has occurred at one of my customer sites where some issues arose that didn't before
e.g., if the Spatial View is not open, things like RightMouseClick on a result set, select GeoRaptor option results
in a message that say the Spatial View isn't open. Never happened before so it is something I have to look into.

(Problem is the SQL Developer team have little in terms of a dynamic relationship with extension builders and often
change APIs and operations without informing anyone such that we have to find out these problems in testing.)

I have some bug fixes close to ready to release but all this was done under SQL Developer 3.0. I plan to make a release
but there is so little (actually NO) feedback from end users (other than the GeoRaptor team) that we are wondering
whether to continue developing.

We get lots and lots of downloads but no comments - even an attempt to contact people via a KiwkSurvey about
GeoRaptor's future ( http://www.kwiksurveys.com/online-survey.php?surveyID=HHHMFN_2befd07f ) is proving disappointing
in the extreme with only 33 responses in 3+ months. This survey ends at the end of March so please take it as this will
form the basis of GeoRaptor's future.

If I encounter any bugs or problems I let you know. At first sight GeoRaptor is working properly but like I said, I just made some first tests loading and viewing data. In a couple of weeks I'll have a better idea of its capabilities and problems it could have, and I'll take the survey before it's closed.